(Newser)
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North Korea has tried warnings of nuclear attack and racist diatribes to criticize President Obama. Now it's turning to Abraham Lincoln. A North Korean state media outlet has constructed an imaginary letter from the 16th US president that attacks Obama's "deception" over Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear weapons. It is the latest response from the North to rising animosity with Washington following Pyongyang's nuclear test and long-range rocket launch earlier this year. The letter, posted in Korean on the DPRK Today website is titled "Advice from Lincoln to Obama." "Hey, Obama," it begins. "I know you have a lot on your mind these days ... I've decided to give you a little advice after seeing you lost in thought before my portrait during a recent Easter Prayer Breakfast."

In the letter, "Lincoln" derides Obama's push to build a nuclear-free world by questioning why the US has not taken the initiative to scale back its nuclear arsenal before asking countries like North Korea to scrap their atomic programs. If the US "only pays lip service, like a parrot, and doesn't do anything actively, it will be a mockery to the entire world," the letter has Lincoln say. Although the fake Lincoln criticizes Obama, the North doesn't portray the late president as a good leader. "Hey, Obama, it's the 21st Century," the letter says. "The tactic by past American presidents, including me, who deceived the people ... is outdated. That doesn't work now. The world doesn't trust an America that doesn't take responsibility for what it says." (Seoul says it has welcomed North Korea's highest-ranking military defector ever.)